Great seeing Charleston so beautifully represented on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown this week, and to see so many friends pop up (I’m talking to you BJ Dennis!) As suggested in the episode, growth in Charleston seems to continue unabated, as does the continued growth of our dining scene here in the Holy City.

Last week, the National Restaurant Association released its annual forecast of what’s hot for 2016. Based on surveys of 1,600 professional American Culinary Federation chefs, the list predicts the Wired, Tired and Expired categories in Food and Beverage for the coming year. For those of us here locally, which of these resonate? Is something missing from this list?

1 Locally sourced meats and seafood

2 Chef-driven fast-casual concepts

3 Locally grown produce

4 Hyper-local sourcing

5 Natural ingredients/minimally processed food

6 Environmental sustainability

7 Healthful kids’ meals

8 New cuts of meat

9 Sustainable seafood

10 House-made/artisan ice cream

11 Ethnic condiments/spices

12 Authentic ethnic cuisine

13 Farm/estate branded items

14 Artisan butchery

15 Ancient grains

16 Ethnic-inspired breakfast items

17 Fresh/house-made sausage

18 House-made/artisan pickles

19 Food waste reduction/management

20 Street food/food trucks

Though dated from October, here also is the latest Charleston Restaurant Report released by Kennedy Partners, a Mt.Pleasant commercial real estate and consulting firm. My question is this: which of these align with predicted national trends, which are irrelevant and which projects will inspire us all with detail on sourcing, technique and innovation?

LOCAL RESTAURANT NEWS: RESTAURANT PROJECTS MOVING FULL SPEED AHEAD

The restaurant + bar population in the Charleston area continues to grow at a brisk pace. More than 25 restaurants opened in the most recent quarter, and another 50+ are on my extended “coming soon” list of restaurants in the development pipeline. About half of those are scheduled to open in the next 3 months, while the rest will linger on in the typical purgatory of overly-optimistic operator deadlines, underestimated project hiccups, and always cumbersome final inspections. As a whole, this is good news for consumers (and vendors) as the increasing number and variety of restaurant offerings provides lots of new choices.

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About Chef Forrest Parker

A devoted evangelist of all things South Carolina, Chef Forrest Parker is a long time licensed tour guide for the City of Charleston and was named a 2016 SC Chef Ambassador by Governor Nikki Haley.
More to come...